Oregon lawmakers hear proposals on Measure 110, drug crisis ahead of February session
A legislative committee tasked with recommending changes to Oregon's ballot measure that decriminalized possession of small amounts of illegal drugs is considering a slew of suggestions, including targeted drug prevention for youth and better use of Oregon’s court system.
Suggestions have ranged from hiring additional drug treatment providers, access to more medication-assisted treatment, eliminating an underutilized hotline and addressing the state's behavioral health system.
Republicans, however, have called for an end to Measure 110, introducing a bill ahead of the session to introduce new penalties for possession of illegal drugs.
The bipartisan Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response has met four times, hearing from law enforcement, advocates, drug users and others to discuss potential policies to address the state’s drug addiction crisis.
Voters approved Ballot Measure 110 in November 2020, decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts there will have been more than 1,500 drug overdose deaths in Oregon from June 2022 to June 2023, a 28% increase compared to 2022. Youth in the state are increasingly at risk with some research showing Oregon's drug-induced death rate growing 550% from 2018 to 2022 in 15 to 19-year-olds.
Auditors' suggestions on changes to Oregon's Measure 110
Representatives from the Oregon Secretary of State office discussed the office’s Measure 110 audit released last month, which showed lagging provider spending and the need for additional data before its measure of Measure 110’s effectiveness.
Two-thirds through the initial grant period, Behavioral Health Resource Networks, the entities receiving Measure 110 funding to provide substance use services, has spent just over a third of those awards. The good news about that, said Secretary of State Audit Manager Ian Green, is that despite decreased cannabis tax revenues, $55 million of unspent funds can be carried over to the next grant period.
Green also told lawmakers there is a need for more and better data to measure the effectiveness of Measure 110.
“In the third audit (due by the end of the year in 2025), we’re required to look at these outcome measures. However, currently only about half of the data elements are being adequately addressed,” Green said.
Auditors were particularly concerned with the lack of baseline data to calculate whether the measure increased access to substance use services as intended. Some of the data needed wasn’t being collected before passage of the ballot measure, he explained.
Green also told lawmakers they were suggesting legislative action to eliminate the requirement for a 24-hour Measure 110 hotline.
“Few people are calling the hotline and as a result, it costs over $7,000 per call,” Green said.
The hotline contractor was paid $1.7 million through June 2023. A new contractor through January 2025 will be paid $2.8 million, and Green suggested using the money for different services.
Green said the audits division suggested lawmakers revise outcome metrics for its next audit to address available data or direct the Oregon Health Authority to collect additional necessary data. Green said the OHA would present a draft plan in February to address outcome metrics.
Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission recommendations
The Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission repeated grim statistics about the state’s failure to curb drug addiction. In 2020, the ADPC set a benchmark goal for the state to reduce drug overdoses from 12.4 per 100,000 people in 2017 to 10.4 or less per 100,000 by 2025.
In 2022, the rate soared to 31.1 deaths per 100,000. The rates were even higher in people of color: 46.6 per 100,000 in 2021 to 85 per 100,000 in 2022 among American Indian or Alaska Native Oregonians and 33.6 per 100,00 in 2018 to 78.3 per 100,000 in 2022 among Black or African American Oregonians.
The agency suggested steps in prevention, treatment, recovery, harm reduction and youth-specific interventions.
Among their 14 recommendations were:
Substance use prevention coordinators in every state county and Tribe.
Increasing access to medications for opioid use disorder by addressing policy and payor barriers, funding mobile units for methadone treatment and introducing medications in all “system entry points” such as emergency departments or residential facilities.
Developing and funding a statewide strategy for naloxone purchase and distribution.
More syringe service programs.
Funding to work on a youth-specific substance use disorder plan by 2025.
Rep. Charlie Conrad, R-Dexter, and Rep. Lisa Reynolds, D-Beaverton, advocated for more youth drug prevention. Reynolds, a pediatrician, said youth are not “little adults” but instead need “tailored responses.”
Oregon lawmakers react to potentional changes to Measure 110
Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Sheryl Bachart spoke alongside Oregon Judicial Department administrator Amy Miller and Criminal Justice Commission Executive Director Ken Sanchagrin about the states' specialty courts and their work.
Treatment courts reduce recidivism, Miller said. In 2022, 93% of drug court program graduates had zero reinvolvement with the justice department, according to Miller's presentation.
Lawmakers Wednesday also introduced three legislative concepts as placeholders before full language is developed. They did not discuss the details of the concepts further during Wednesday's meeting although the Oregonian reported that at least one proposal that could be introduced in February would make possession of small amounts of drugs class C misdemeanors unless the person turns to substance use disorder services.
"Today was a snapshot of what we're working on," Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, said Wednesday. "We started this very process with talk about prevention and we've come back to that."
In a statement, Kropf said lawmakers could agree on a need for a range of services along the continuum of care and immediate and long-term solutions.
“Everyone’s pathway to recovery looks different, we need to make sure our system offers a variety of entry points, many of which already exist but need to be strengthened," he said.
Co-chair Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, D-Portland, said she was glad prevention was discussed.
"Stopping Oregonians, especially our kids, from taking these drugs in the first place is one of the most effective things we can do. We’ll never be able to afford the system we need without it,” Lieber said.
Republicans were more critical, however.
“Measure 110 is a failure on many fronts, but today’s hearing confirmed that it directs too few of its resources to prevention and recovery," Rep. Christine Goodwin, R-Canyonville, said in advocating for "top to bottom" reform of the measure.
Goodwin is a cosponsor of a bill — currently titled Legislative Concept 61 — filed this week that classifies possession of drugs such as fentanyl, heroin and meth as a Class A misdemeanor. The bill also would mandate treatment to avoid jail time and require evaluation and treatment for probation in certain drug and property crimes. Public use of drugs would be prohibited and drug dealers and manufacturers would be required to serve prison time.
Republican House Leader Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, a co-sponsor on the proposal, on Wednesday labeled Measure 110 a "failure."
“While the majority party talks endlessly about drug prevention, their policies opened the floodgates to drug access. Failing to end Measure 110 is to embrace the status quo of death, drugs, and decline. The people of Oregon have seen enough. House Republicans are answering their call for substantial, meaningful reforms to get drugs off the streets, put drug dealers behind bars, and get addicts into treatment. The legislature must deliver this short session by passing our bill,” said Helfrich in a statement Thursday.
Other sponsors include Rep. Rick Lewis, R-Silverton; Rep. Tracy Cramer, R-Gervais; Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem; and Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Stayton.
But a coalition including the ACLU of Oregon, Drug Policy Alliance, Health Justice Recovery Alliance, Unite Oregon and other advocates urged lawmakers to stay the course.
Recriminalization will harm Oregonians, they warned in a statement.
"Any action by the Oregon legislature that criminalizes addiction would be cruel, harmful, and a failure of leadership. We cannot regress back to the failed war on drug tactics that harm Black, brown, and poor people and make drug addiction, overdose deaths, and homelessness more difficult and expensive to solve," their statement said.
The coalition said lawmakers should focus on accessible and sufficient addiction treatment, mental health services, housing and education.
The short legislative session begins Feb. 5.
Dianne Lugo is a reporter at the Statesman Journal covering state government and equity and social justice. You can reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon drug crisis: Lawmakers hear proposals for Measure 110
